The Cleveland Browns picked up their first win on Sunday, upsetting the Green Bay Packers 13-10. While winning is always great, and teams should never apologize for finding a way to win, it’s hard to say fans should feel good moving forward based on how the team looked in the win. The defense was elite, which is exciting, but the Browns still looked like a team who winning is difficult for.
The most concerning part of that reality is it seems like that’s the way Cleveland wants to play. The Browns are playing a very conservative brand of football, and the problem is that approach gives the team a very slim margin for error. In order for Cleveland to win games, it has to be near perfect, and that method is not conducive to winning a lot of games.
Browns’ style of play is setting Cleveland up for failure
The only certainty for Cleveland through three weeks is its defense; the unit has showed up every game, containing three quality offenses. While the Browns are counting on the defense to not give up a lot of points, the offense has been very conservative, and unproductive. Cleveland has been leaning on the run game, and a bunch of short, safe passes. With the ground game being inconsistent, and the Browns not being willing to go for it on fourth down, the result has been a lot of drives that quickly stall out.
Even when Kevin Stefanski does call a play that’s drawn up to be an explosive, Joe Flacco and the offense have been unable to execute. That then forces the offense to go back into its shell, leaving the team playing mistake free football and waiting on the other team to mess up first. That approach worked on Sunday, as the Packers turned the ball over late and had a blocked field goal, but as Cleveland has seen already, things aren’t always going to work out that well.
The Browns have to be more aggressive to give themselves a better chance to win. They have to call some shots, go for it on fourth down, and take some risks. Risks obviously have drawbacks, but they have great benefits as well. Cleveland has to consider being more aggressive, or the Browns can just keep waiting around and hoping everything falls into place — a method that rarely works.